A team of five transgender women from an amateur Australian soccer team dominated a women’s-only tournament and won the $1,000 prize, according to a report. The squad, which includes five transgender women, sparked controversy.
The Sydney-based Flying Bats FC won the four-week game unbeaten, with the exception of one game in which one of the transgender females scored six goals in a 10-0 lead, according to the Daily Telegraph.
According to officials from other North West Sydney League football clubs, some parents have pulled their daughters out of their games because they worry about security.
They think the Flying Bats, which Pride Football Australia supports, may participate in mixed-gender games that feature both men and women.
“Our women are here for fun, and they anticipate competing in the adult category. They did not sign up for a combined competition,” one older club official said.
The official continued, “Some of the parents were so worried they wouldn’t let their daughters play.”
“They were so unfair for them to realize how much of a difference there was in skill; they are killing it.
The group is putting the people at risk, according to Kirralie Smith, a spokeswoman for Binary Australia, an organization that claims there are only two genders. She claimed that some women were instructed not to worry or sacrifice in protest out of fear of reprisals.
Jen Peden, chairman of the Flying Bats Football Club, defended the team’s success in the event and said the group supports participation and that “trans women belong in the women’s competition because that is the gender they identify with.”
“As a club, the Flying Bats FC stand strongly for inclusion and pride ourselves on safe, respectful, and fair play, the promotion of a supportive community for LGBTQIA+ players, officials, and supporters, and the significant physical, social, and mental health benefits that participation in sport brings, especially to marginalized members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We are a team that values both the transgender and cisgender players equally,” Peden said.
There have been transgender people in the league for two decades, she continued, noting that “we strongly support the Asian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines for the participation of transgender and gender diverse people in sport.”
A Football NSW official told The Daily Telegraph that the organization takes pride in “being at the forefront of developing diverse guidelines for the game in Australia and operates within the already established legal platform, including anti-discrimination policy.”
